Lithograph spray device



April 20; 1948; B. GODA, SR 2,440,084

LITHOGRAPH SPRAY DEVICE Filed Feb. 4. 194

IN V EN TOR.

law/25230636 0514, $7? 69 v Lam Patented Apr. 20, 1948 UN ITED STATESPATENT OFFICE LITHOGRAPH SPRAY DEVICE Lawrence'B. God'a, Sn, Chicago,Ill. Application February 4, 1944, Serial No. 521,027 Claims. (01. 9145) My invention relates to lithographic spray devices and controldevices for use therewith.

So-called pencil .airbrushes are employed .by skilled commercialartists. in many unusual and unexpected ways in producing. commerciallithographic plates. Thus with. the same airbrush it is possible toproduce a stipplin-g. effect, a relatively sharp line, or a shaded linewhich is sharp on one side and blends substantially into a stipplingeffect on the: other side. Generally speaking, considerable skill andthe expenditure of a great deal of time are necessary to employ a pencilairbrush to secure all of the usual effects desired.

I have found that by means of special control features, which may beemployed as partof a pencil airbrush, I am able to facilitate verygreatly the use of a pencil airbrush to secure man y novel advantageswithout appreciably afi'ecti-ng the operation of the pencil airbrush inthe usual manner now known in the art.

The principal object of my invention is to improve the ordinary pencilairbrush to enable it to be used for a wider variety of purposes. andwith the expenditure of much less than the usual amount of time.

Another object is to provide an attachment for a conventional airbrushfor the purpose of controlling in an. improved manner the spraydischarged therefrom? Other objects andfeatures of the invention will beapparent from a consideration of the following detailed descriptiontaken with the accompanying drawing wherein- Fig. 1 is a fragmentaryelevational view partly in longitudinal section and showing. alithographic spray device comprising one embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the lithographic spray device, a guide memberforming apart-of a control attachment being shown in longitudinal sec.-tion;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the spray control attachmentseparated from the spray gun and adapted. for attachment to any usualtype of spray gun or airbrush;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view showing one manner of using thedevice of my present invention; and

Fig. 5 illustrates one typical effect which is readily obtainable bymeans of the device of my present invention but is difficultlyobtainable,v or obtainable only after tedious work by the skilledcraftsmen when using a, conventional type of airbrush.

In accordance with the general features of my invention, I provide anorifice containing member supported on guides running parallel to theaxis of the spray nozzle and supporting the orifice containing member ata selected position in the path of the spray, whereby to limit more orless the spreading action of the spray, depending upon the position atwhich the orifice containing member is placed. The orifice is as near aflat plate orifice as possible and may vary in diameter froma fewthousandths of an inch to approximately one-eighth inch or more. Meansis provided to trap liquid which does not pass the orifice and deliverit back to a liquid reservoir of a general type normally associated witha spray gun. The orifice is preferably formed at the apex of a cone, thesides of which diverge in such a way as to preserve the generalcharacteristics of a fiat plate orifice while, at the same time,securing advantages from the standpoint of trapping of liquid andcontrol thereof. The guides on which the orifice containing member iscarried are also adapted to engage the surface against which a spray isdirected to facilitate proper application of the control spray,\ andmeans is provided, preferably in the form of spring pressed guideextensions for directing the spray at any angle which may be required inoperation while still maintaining both guide members in contact with thesurface.

As previously pointed out, the spray device of '-my present inventionmay take various forms,

the embodiment shown in the drawing having proved very effective in theproduction of commercial lithographs. The spray device utilizes aconventional form of spray gun It adapted to be connected with an airline H and withdraws lithographing fluid from a reservoir I2 in responseto operation of a control member l3. Various types of valve mechanismsknown to those skilled in the art may be utilized to cause withdrawal ofliquid from the reservoir l2 and discharge thereof in the form of aspray in the desired manner. The. reservoir I2 is a more or lessconventional type of reservoir with an extension l4 adapted to screwinto a. boss on the lower side. of the spray gun, and. to be held insuch a position that a liquid withdrawing line It extends tosubstantially the lowermost part of the reservoir. A filling. cap l! isprovided so that the reservoir may be filled without dismantling thespray apparatus.

A spray nozzle I8 is provided with a nozzle cap or head i 9 and thisnozzle cap It carries a transverse mounting plate 2'! to which guides 22and 23 are secured. The plate 2| and guides 22 and 23 form a part of aseparate control device such as shown in Fig. 3 and which will bedescribed. more in detail hereinafter. The nozzle cap, however, isattached such as by threads, as shown, to the spray gun H], a suitablegasket or washer 24 being provided to form a tight connection. Thoseskilled in the art will understand that a conventional type of spray gunmay include the spray gun reservoir, etc., including the nozzle cap [9but without the mounting plate 2|. The mounting plate 2| has beenprovided in accordance with my invention and is secured to the nozzlecap l9 or other portion of the spray gun in any suitable or desiredmanner. In a preferred form of the invention, the mounting plate andnozzle cap l9 are welded or brazed together to form substantially aunitary structure so that they are removed together to produce aseparable device such as illustrated in Fig. 3. If it is thendesirableat any time to employ the spray gun separatel and without thedevice of Fig. 3, this may be done by merely supplying an extra nozzlecap l9.

The guides 22 and 23 have threaded thereon a pair of ring supports 26and 21' which together carry a shell 23 in the center of which isthreaded a cone member 29 having an aperture 3!. At the side of theshell 28 opposite to the cone 2%, an annular flange 32 is provided inthe nature of a baffle to facilitate retaining liquid material withinthe shell. A portion 33 of the shell, near the bottom thereof, isexpanded to form a collecting sump leading to an apertured boss .34connected to a tube 36 of rubber or the like, the other end of which isin communication with the reservoir through an apertured boss 31attached thereto. The inside of the shell, including that portion of thecone member 29 which liquid may strike,,is so shaped as to minimizesplashing of liquid which may hit it and at the same time to facilitateflow of liquid to the sump 33 and deliver it back to the reservoir. Thespray gun is used in various positions, a common one being to have thenozzle end of the spray gun tilted somewhat downwardly from the positionshown in Fig. 1. The arrangement which I provide will cause the liquidto be returned to the reservoir at any position which the spray gun isapt to assume during normal operating conditions.

Within the guides 22 and 23, but forming a part of an extension thereof,I provide plungers 38 and 39 spring pressed outwardly by means ofsprings, one of such springs 4| being shown in Fig. 2. The structureshown places an enlarged portion of the plungers within an inner tubularportion of the guides, one end of the springs being engaged against theenlarged inner portion of the plungers and the other end engaged againsta threaded plug 42 which retains the spring in place.

The ring supports 26 and 21 may be positioned at various locations alongthe guides 22 and 23 to control the distance of the orifice 3| from thespray gun nozzle. Means is provided to hold the ring supports with theshell 28, and appurtee nances thereto, at any desired positionlongitudinall of the guides. In the drawing, I show simply large headedmachine screws 43 threaded in the ring supports and adapted to engagethe guides to hold the parts in position. I may, however, use any usualform of quickly released friction providing device to secure the desiredeffect. I describe the cone member 29 as being threaded in position. Myinvention contem- 4 plates the provision of several cones with differentsizes of orifice with means to provide for quick interchange of conemembers in the event the artist may wish to go from one kind of orificeto another. The use of double or quadruple threads of multiple pitch orthe like is suggested for the purpose. In Fig. 1, I illustrate athreaded connection but, the cone member being in full section, themultiple pitch of the threads does not appear.

The lithographic spray device of my invention -may be used as ordinarylithographic spray devices are used but has several features and adforsecuring, in an expeditious manner, the kinds of results desired incommercial lithographs and the like. When employing a fairly largeorifice 3|, the orifices may be placed very close to the nozzle outlet(the parts are approximately full scale) in which event the orifice willhave little or no effect upon the spray and the device may be used as anordinary air pencil with the exception, of course, that the guides maybe used to position the spray and facilitate the operators applicationthereof to a surface. By placing the orifice at a progressively greaterdistance away from the nozzle, the diverging portion of the spray istrapped in the shell and only those portions having a substantiallyforward component pass the orifice and reach the lithograph surface.Thus the spray is allowed to diverge more or less depending upon therelative positions of the orifice and nozzle. Some change in thecharacteristics of the applied liquid may be obtained by bringing theorifice 3| closer to or further away from the lithograph surface such asby forcing the plungers 38 and 39 inwardly or letting them extend theirmaximum distance.

It will be noted that the orifice diverges and the material forming itcomes to a sharp edge. This structure not only provides an orifice asclose as possible to a theoretical fiat plate orifice but it also causesany liquid which does not pass the orifice to immediately be divertedaway from the orifice rather than collect at the orifice and permitsubsequent discharge in the form of large particles. While some slightdiverging of the spray may take place after'it passes the orifice 3i thedivergence will be very slight and not appreciably more than can beaccounted for by the forces set in motion within the liquid as it leavesthe nozzle proper.

By means of my invention a usual form of stipple effect or shading maybe obtained, or a sharp line may be produced by preventing the sprayfrom spreading and going over the same line slowly enough to permitdeposition of sufiicient liquid. In addition, desired vignette effectsmay be obtained in any position, such as the effect indicated generallyin Fig. 5. By slanting the spray such as by collapsing the plunger 39 asillustrated in Fig. 4, the deposited spray may be caused to be dark andsharp on one side (the side of the collapsed guide plunger) and shadinginto a stippled eifect at the other side. Both plungers may, of course,be permitted to contact the lithograph surface while slanting the spraydevice whereby to obtain a vignette effect running at right angles tothe illustrated device of Fig. 5. This effect, as pointed out, can beobtained because, while the knife edge of the aperture cuts the spraysharply and a nozzle action is prevented because of the sloping sides ofthe core orifice, some spray action is still present in the dischargedspray and by slanting the spray in the manner described the portionwhich travels the greater distance will spread more than the portionnearer to the orifice.

It will be noted that the guides not only function to guide the orificeto position as it is moved toward or away from the work, but also toguide or assist the operator in his work. Various arrangements of guidemembers may be used. The form shown, however, has the advantage ofshowing the artist (the operator) exactly where the spray will strikebefore he actually releases the spray.

I have described my invention in detail in order that those skilled inthe art may understand how to practice the same; but the scope of theinvention is defined in the claims.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

1. A lithographic spray device, comprising a guide member, means tosupport said guide on an airbrush generally parallel to the axis of aspray produced thereby, means longitudinally adjustably carried by saidguide member forming an aperture aligned with said spray, means fortrapping liquid which does not pass said aperture, and a spring pressedextension on said guide member adapted to engage a lithograph surface toposition said orifice with respect thereto.

2. A lithographic spray device comprising a spray gun, a reservoir forliquid secured thereto, a nozzle cap, a plate secured thereto, a pair ofmutually parallel guide tubes carried by the plate, spring propelledplungers projecting from said guide tubes, a shell having a pair ofintegral ring supports surrounding said guide tubes, means providing acone shaped orifice in said shell, means causing sprayed material whichdoes not pass said orifice to collect in a lower portion of said shell,and means for delivering liquid therefrom to said reservoir.

3. A lithographic spray device, comprising a pair of mutually alignedguide members, means to support said guide members on an airbrush in aposition generally parallel to the axis of a spray produced thereby,means carried by said guide members forming an aperture aligned withsaid spray, said aperture being of a size to pass only part of saidspray, means for trapping sprayed liquid which does not pass saidaperture, and a pair of mutually parallel spring pressed plungerscarried by said guide members and extending in front of said aperture,said plungers 6 adapted to engage a lithograph surface to adjust-ablyposition said orifice away from such surface at a desired angle thereto,

4. A lithographic spray device comprising a spray gun having a nozzlecap, a pair of parallel guide members carried by such cap, a shelllongitudinaly adjustable carried by said guide members, a cone membercarried by the shell providing an aperture at its apex in the path of aspray,

vgmeans for collecting in said shell sprayed material which vrill notpass said orifice, and spring pressed plungers carried by said guidemembers and adapted to engage a lithographic surface to adjustablyposition said aperture with respect thereto.

5. A manually supportable lithographic spray device for producinglithographic art work, said device comprising a spray gun including anozzle and manually manipulatable control member for controllingdelivery of spray through said nozzle, a shell disposed in the path ofsaid spray, said shell being relatively open in the direction facing thespray, a cone having an orifice at its apex, said cone carried by theshell at a position opposite to the said opening and having its apexfacing said opening, means for positioning said shell with respect tosaid nozzle and means for preventing splashing from said shell of suchliquid as does not pass through said orifice, and means for drawing fromsaid shell such liquid as may be trapped therein, the space between saidshell and nozzle being relatively open.

LAWRENCE B. GODA, Sn.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,268,403 Stacker June 4, 19181,675,002 Steiner June 26, 1928 1,825,227 Grady Sept. 29, 1931 1,828,463Hammers Oct. 20, 1931 1,886,863 Barden Nov. 8, 1932 1,932,215 Johnson eta1 Oct. 24, 1933 1,956,220 Johnson et a1 April 24, 1934 2,035,677Steinke Mar. 31, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 527,226Germany June 15, 1931

